Voorgevel van Kasteel Hoensbroek 1903

Here is a silver gelatin print of the front of Hoensbroek Castle, made by an anonymous photographer. The castle looms in the fog; it has an ethereal quality. It’s a bit like one of Gerhard Richter’s blurred paintings. I imagine the photographer wanted to make a record of the building for the purposes of monument conservation. They weren’t thinking of themselves as an artist, but rather as a visual archivist. Yet, they knew what they were doing. They were clearly attuned to the light, and they understood how the soft focus could conjure mood and atmosphere. I wonder if the photographer was thinking about Eugène Atget, who documented the architecture of Paris at the turn of the last century. I can imagine them looking at each other’s work and having a conversation, separated only by time. Photography and painting, they're both just ways of seeing.